By Tate Papworth
Brimbank schools will receive more than $70,000 in sports gear to help encourage the next generation of budding athletes.
Coles will make the donations in coming weeks as part of the company’s Sports for Schools program.
About 60 primary and secondary schools in the area will receive gear, which will include cricket and softball bats, footballs, basketballs, javelins, hockey sticks, skipping ropes, racquets, first-aid kits and nets.
Brimbank schools were among more than 7000 schools across Australia that participated in the program, which was held between February and April.
Springside College in Caroline Springs will receive the most sports equipment after collecting more than 96,000 vouchers.
Coles state general manager Grant Shelton said the company was delighted to be delivering sports equipment to local schools.
“We’re really impressed by the way the local community has got behind the program by collecting so many vouchers for their school,” he said.
“We hope the new sports equipment will result in a lot of healthy, active fun for school kids in Brimbank.”
For every $10 spent at Coles, customers received one Sports for Schools voucher, with nearly 1.9 million vouchers collected in Brimbank.
The company is expected to give away about $10 million worth of sports gear across the nation as part of the program.
